Performance Management (MBHS4)

I.

What is Performance Management? What are the problems in

traditional appraisal system? What are the distinctive features of
Performance Management in relation to Performance appraisal?

Ans- The problem of course, is that for the vast majority of employees today, their sum

total experience of performance management is an annual performance review (or

appraisal or evaluation or assessment). Heres how the academics distinguish between the
two (source):
Performance management is the process of identifying, measuring, managing, and
developing the performance of the human resources in an organization.
Performance appraisal, on the other hand, is the ongoing process of evaluating employee
performance.
There are all kinds of ways to think of the difference between the two. Performance
management is about what youre going to do to help an employee continue in their
development to become increasingly better in their performance for your organization.
Performance appraisal is how you evaluate the progress being made by assessing or
measuring the employees actual performance on a regular basis over time.

Another way to think of the difference between the two is that performance appraisal is
about the past, meaning how the employee performed in the immediate past period being
reviewed during the appraisal process. Performance management, meanwhile, is focused
on the present and the future. In the present, youre doing things in real-time to help make
sure the employees performance reaches the desired level. With an eye on the future,
youre also planning what can be done to further develop that employees capabilities for
periods to come.

When you think about it, another way to distinguish between the two is to say that
performance appraisal is reactiveprocess while performance management is
a proactive process.

many cases, its useful to see performance appraisal as an essential process that goes
along well with performance management. Some would even argue that performance
appraisal is just one piece of the larger puzzle of performance management.
However you look at them, they both should result in increased performance over time! If
youre not getting the results you need, then either or both pieces need to be re-tooled.
Performance appraisal has been around a long time. After all, how else do you know
whether an employee deserves a raise, bonus or promotion? What performance
management does is take that process up several notches to proactively manage employee
performance so that it aligns with and accomplishes the overall vision, mission, goals,
objectives and strategies of the organization. Performance appraisal is all about an
individual and how theyve performed in the past while performance management more
takes that information and explicitly evaluates it relationship to whats important to the
organization as a whole.
Heres a table that gets at some of the more interesting and important differences between
performance management and performance appraisal:
Performance appraisal
Performance management
Operational
Strategic
Top-down assessment
More likely to involve dialog
Retrospective for corrections
Future-oriented for growth
Ongoing or continuous review, interspersed
Typically once or twice per year
with formal reviews
Often uses ratings or rankings
Less likely to involve ratings
Rigid structure/system
Flexible process
Not linked to business needs
Linked to business needs
Combines quantitative and qualitative
Usually takes a quantitative approach
approaches
Individual
Collective
Often linked to compensation
Not usually linked to compensation
Often very bureaucratic with a focus on
Less concerned with documentation
paperwork/documents
Usually housed in HR department
Conducted by managers and supervisors
If you tend to use the terms performance management and performance appraisal
interchangeably, its time to start building a more nuanced approach to these related but
distinct concepts. By keeping them too muddled together, many organizations have failed
to realize the full benefits that can come from building a top-notch performance
management system that includes robust performance appraisals.

II.

Explain Performance Theatre. What are the Pillars of Performance

Theatre?

Ans- Theatre is a way to express meaning, feeling, and spirit so that the audience will
have an opportunity to experience what we want them to experience. Yet the experience
of theatre is more than this. It is a part of human nature to separate ourselves from
people who are different and live in different situations. The theatre breaks that barrier of
separation. Somehow, the theatre allows us to experience the world of another person
and at the same time experience ourselves in our own world. beautiful thought, well
put if these are your words, if not you must cite source.
I have always thought of theatre as a platform where anyone can express themselves not
only by words but by actions and movements. In my very early school days, and I am
talking about the time when I was in class 3-4, I took part in plays such as Matilda (one
of my fav poems), Mind your Language etc. I was not afraid of the stage even at such a
young age. It was great fun and attracted a lot of attention from the audience. But as I
entered into higher classes, I somehow lost touch with theatre completely, mostly due to
issues I had with my speech. Being born with a bone defect at birth, I used to breathe
only from my mouth and that made my speech very unclear and heavy. This shortcoming
made me so conscious that I used to shy away from events which involved speaking out
in front of a crowd. Even when I came to college, the same fear refrained me from
participating in events. Its only when I started working that I mustered the courage and
went in for such events. So when I got to know that SOIL would be having a theatre
class, I was eagerly waiting for it as one of my objectives of joining a PG program was to
re-discover myself and participate in things I had not done before.
On the first day we had the Check-in, Check-out exercise. This was an exercise which
most of us had already gone through as part of the Humour Me workshop earlier in the
year. It served as an excellent ice-breaker and also served as a great source of
entertainment. People told stories about themselves, some funny and some personal. I
chose to share an experience from my youth which involved a gun, a victim and a
shooter, the last one being me. Everyone felt so comfortable with the whole group,
something which the class desperately needed. Most of us were able to relate the stories
with our own lives, bringing us even close to one another.
The following days, the session would start with warm-up exercises. These exercises
were aimed at clearing the mind of any thoughts which may be affecting you and also to
make you peek into your inner self. Personally I so looked forward to these early morning
sessions as they gave me moments of peace even in times of stress. Most if not all of the
exercises that we did during the workshop were aimed at building trust, not only with
each other in the class but also with your own self, the latter being more important. One
such exercise was the trust-fall exercise in which a person deliberately allows
themselves to fall, relying on the other members of the group to catch the person.
Although Ive played this game many times before, but during this instance, I didnt even
hesitate for a second while falling backwards as I completely trusted my classmates and

knew that they would protect me. This exercise also challenges you to confront your
fears. You might feel insecure, you might fear heights or you might even have issues
trusting people. Some people did hesitate during this exercise but eventually they were
able to confront their fears and came out winning. Another exercise asked us to pair up
with a partner, standing at an arms distance facing each other and looking into each
others eyes. The exercise was all about focus, concentration and feeling your partners
energy. I can recall that my mind was fixed only on my partner and we were able to
communicate by only looking into each others eyes. This took a lot of resolve as being
comfortable was key to this exercise. This situation made a lot of us feel very awkward. I
could relate this to many instances in our lives where the atmosphere is not what we want
it to be but the situation demands of us to venture out of our comfort zone, not to give in
and to fight to get what we want.

IV.

What is a Team? How to develop a team and how to lead a

high performance team?

Ans- What Are High Performance Teams?

But first, lets define the high performance team.
A high performance team is a group of people who work together for a common goal and
are able to achieve extraordinary results. High performance teams are created on a solid
foundation of:

building productive communication,

creating innovative solutions, and

delivering great performance.

In other words, high performance teams are equipped with a high-performance team
culture.
Building a High Performance Team
Teams dont simply happen. Indeed teams are much more than groups of people. They
occur when there are common goals, values and behaviours. And every leader has a part
to play in building teams. Here are my top tips for building high performance teams.
1. Model Excellence

Youve probably heard the phrase: Behaviour breeds behaviour. This saying is
illustrated by a simple model called the Betari Box.
In a nutshell, the Betari Box helps us to understand how our attitudes and behaviours
directly affect the attitudes and behaviours of others.
When were stuck in a cycle mistrust, not taking responsibility, positive attitude and so
on it is up to the team leader to break the cycle and change attitudes.
Inevitably this has a positive impact on those around us. When we take charge
and change our behaviour our team is more likely to follow our lead.
2. Open and Honest Communication
A hallmark of the high performance team is a high level of open, honest, robust and
transparent communication. High performance teams increase trust by building a culture
of partnership and shared values.
This starts with open and honest communication.
When honesty and transparency are lacking there can be no trust.
Without trust teams fail to solve problems or make decisions. Without trust teams are
crippled by conflict.
3. A Supportive Environment
High Performance teams meet regularly and discuss progress, concerns, and ideas for
improvement.
Likewise, the team leader meets the individual to talk about their objectives, development
and performance. The high performance team supports its members by:

accepting difference and diversity,

encouraging each others strengths, and

supporting its members at times of personal or professional challenge.

4. Understand the Expertise

Know your teams strengths and talents.
Motivation and positive attitude is more valuable to high performance teams than
experience and negative character.
The high performance team motivates and coaches the individual. It helps and develops
the less experience colleague.
Moreover, the team listens to everyone and creates a sense of belonging. The team
understands what each playerhas to offer and how they help achieve shared business
objectives.
5. Celebrate Success
Share good news. Make noise about successes.
Let everyone know when the team or a team member does something exceptional.
V.

What are the pros and cons of appraising? Elucidate.

Ans- Companies and managers use a number of common appraisal methods to assess

employee performance. Each technique has pros and cons. To determine which technique
works best for your business, you need to understand the purposes of appraising
performance. A performance appraisal should motivate an employee to better
performance by helping him understand why he needs to move away from poor
performance or toward critical objectives.
Rating Scales
The graphic rating scale and behavioral rating scale are two common rating scale
appraisal techniques. With the graphic scale, employees are simply assigned a score on
criteria important to job success. The behavioral scale focuses on actual behaviors. Pros
of ratings scales include ease of use and understanding. Many managers and employees
are familiar with them. They offer a simple way to communicate areas of strengths and
weaknesses. A common negative of rating scales is the assumption that they are directly

tied to an employee's raise or bonus. This can cause score inflation. Managers can also
have negative bias toward employees.
Narrative Techniques
The narrative technique and critical-independent method involve more details analyses of
job performance. You write an essay assessment of performance with the narrative and
keep a running log describing positive and negative performance and behaviors with the
critical-independent method. A pro of these techniques is the thoroughness of detail in
analyzing employee behaviors. Additionally, you can focus on praising positive behavior
and addressing areas for correction. A concern is the reaction of the employee, though.
He might interpret the evaluation too positively or too negatively relative to a scoring
system.
Comparison Methods
The multiperson comparison method and forced distribution methods are two common
comparison appraisal techniques. These approaches compare the subject employee's
performance to peers. This allows you to communicate to an employee areas in which he
over- or under-performs relative to others in similar positions. This can motivate
performance in competitive workplaces and among competitive employees. The risks of
these methods include the potential of in-fighting and the lack of harmony you might see
in your employee ranks.
360 Feedback
A popular contemporary appraisal technique is the 360 degree feedback. In this method,
employees are evaluated by colleagues, customers, subordinates, other interested parties
an supervisors. The major advantage of this technique is that it offers the employee a
glimpse of how others view his performance in various relationships critical to his job. It
also allows a better chance to compare different perspectives in the evaluation process.
Biased evaluators, poor alignment with goals and negative employee feelings are among
cons of this approach.